Our focus then was four teams– the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers – that had recently scored regional sports network contracts worth $1 billion-plus in rights fees, more than double the money that previously flowed to them from this revenue stream. They each also nabbed an equity stake in their broadcast partner, ushering in the new era of teams sharing in the risks and rewards of lucrative RSNs. Combined, the deals are worth $10.1 billion including equity and $6 billion in rights fees.

The biggest of them was the Rangers 20-year deal with Sports Southwest which pays an annual average $85 million in rights fees starting next season and includes a 25 percent equity stake. In total it is worth $3.1 billion. It gave the team the power to outspend $51.7 million for the coveted rights to negotiate with then rising Japanese star Yu Darvish and another $100 million more signing him.

The riskiest among them proved to belong to the Houston Astros. The team joined up with the Houston Rockets to launch a new RSN with Comcast, took a 46 stake in it and agreed to an average annual $80 million in rights fee over 20 years. Problems started when CSN Houston went live in October 2012 to only Comcast cable subscribers, who make up just 40 percent of the Houston market. It has since been unable to secure carriage deals with the other providers. The Astros poor performance on the field and dismal to no ratings (a September game registered 0.0 Nielsen TV rating) have not helped. Financial woes and disagreements among the three parties forced the RSN into bankruptcy protection in February. To date, the Astros received only $29 million of the $56 million in rights fees due from last season. As of time of print, it remains to be seen where their games will be shown locally this season. Best case scenario is the three parties can renegotiate the economics of the existing contract. Worst case scenario is the network folds and the Astros have to shop their rights out in the market which currently is without any other regional sports network.

In the past two years though four more hybrid rights fee-equity deals have been struck worth a combined total $23.6 billion, including $11.7 billion to be paid in rights fees over 25 years.

The most valuable is the new arrangement the New York Yankees have with the YES Network. In 2013, News Corp bought 49 percent of YES and in January of this year 21st Century Fox (spun off from News Corp last summer) increased its stake to 80 percent. The Bronx Bombers held on to a 20 percent stake (down from an original 46 percent), received a $400 million payment up front, and agreed to a 20-year rights fee structure that paid $85 million last season and through multiple escalators will increase to $300 million in 2033. The total value of the deal is $7.7 billion, or an annual average of $385 million. Last season it banked over $100 million in cable money. It is one reason the Yankees are worth $2.5 billion, the most valuable franchise in MLB.